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><H1
><A
NAME="SQL-CREATEDATABASE"
></A
>CREATE DATABASE</H1
><DIV
CLASS="REFNAMEDIV"
><A
NAME="AEN64782"
></A
><H2
>Name</H2
>CREATE DATABASE&nbsp;--&nbsp;create a new database</DIV
><DIV
CLASS="REFSYNOPSISDIV"
><A
NAME="AEN64787"
></A
><H2
>Synopsis</H2
><PRE
CLASS="SYNOPSIS"
>CREATE DATABASE <TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>name</I
></TT
>
    [ [ WITH ] [ OWNER [=] <TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>user_name</I
></TT
> ]
           [ TEMPLATE [=] <TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>template</I
></TT
> ]
           [ ENCODING [=] <TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>encoding</I
></TT
> ]
           [ LC_COLLATE [=] <TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>lc_collate</I
></TT
> ]
           [ LC_CTYPE [=] <TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>lc_ctype</I
></TT
> ]
           [ TABLESPACE [=] <TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>tablespace</I
></TT
> ]
           [ CONNECTION LIMIT [=] <TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>connlimit</I
></TT
> ] ]</PRE
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="REFSECT1"
><A
NAME="AEN64797"
></A
><H2
>Description</H2
><P
>   <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>CREATE DATABASE</TT
> creates a new
   <SPAN
CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
>PostgreSQL</SPAN
> database.
  </P
><P
>   To create a database, you must be a superuser or have the special
   <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>CREATEDB</TT
> privilege.
   See <A
HREF="sql-createuser.html"
>CREATE USER</A
>.
  </P
><P
>   Normally, the creator becomes the owner of the new database.
   Superusers can create databases owned by other users, by using the
   <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>OWNER</TT
> clause. They can even create databases owned by
   users with no special privileges. Non-superusers with <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>CREATEDB</TT
>
   privilege can only create databases owned by themselves.
  </P
><P
>   By default, the new database will be created by cloning the standard
   system database <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>template1</TT
>.  A different template can be
   specified by writing <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>TEMPLATE
   <TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>name</I
></TT
></TT
>.  In particular,
   by writing <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>TEMPLATE template0</TT
>, you can create a virgin
   database containing only the standard objects predefined by your
   version of <SPAN
CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
>PostgreSQL</SPAN
>.  This is useful
   if you wish to avoid copying
   any installation-local objects that might have been added to
   <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>template1</TT
>.
  </P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="REFSECT1"
><A
NAME="AEN64815"
></A
><H2
>Parameters</H2
><P
></P
><DIV
CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
><DL
><DT
><TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>name</I
></TT
></DT
><DD
><P
>        The name of a database to create.
       </P
></DD
><DT
><TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>use_name</I
></TT
></DT
><DD
><P
>        The name of the database user who will own the new database,
        or <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>DEFAULT</TT
> to use the default (namely, the
        user executing the command).
       </P
></DD
><DT
><TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>template</I
></TT
></DT
><DD
><P
>        The name of the template from which to create the new database,
        or <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>DEFAULT</TT
> to use the default template
        (<TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>template1</TT
>).
       </P
></DD
><DT
><TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>encoding</I
></TT
></DT
><DD
><P
>        Character set encoding to use in the new database.  Specify
        a string constant (e.g., <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>'SQL_ASCII'</TT
>),
        or an integer encoding number, or <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>DEFAULT</TT
>
        to use the default encoding (namely, the encoding of the
        template database). The character sets supported by the
        <SPAN
CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
>PostgreSQL</SPAN
> server are described in
        <A
HREF="multibyte.html#MULTIBYTE-CHARSET-SUPPORTED"
>Section 22.3.1</A
>. See below for
        additional restrictions.
       </P
></DD
><DT
><TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>lc_collate</I
></TT
></DT
><DD
><P
>        Collation order (<TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>LC_COLLATE</TT
>) to use in the new database.
        This affects the sort order applied to strings, e.g. in queries with
        ORDER BY, as well as the order used in indexes on text columns.
        The default is to use the collation order of the template database.
        See below for additional restrictions.
       </P
></DD
><DT
><TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>lc_ctype</I
></TT
></DT
><DD
><P
>        Character classification (<TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>LC_CTYPE</TT
>) to use in the new
        database. This affects the categorization of characters, e.g. lower,
        upper and digit. The default is to use the character classification of
        the template database. See below for additional restrictions.
       </P
></DD
><DT
><TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>tablespace</I
></TT
></DT
><DD
><P
>        The name of the tablespace that will be associated with the
        new database, or <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>DEFAULT</TT
> to use the
        template database's tablespace. This
        tablespace will be the default tablespace used for objects
        created in this database. See
        <A
HREF="sql-createtablespace.html"
>CREATE TABLESPACE</A
>
        for more information.
       </P
></DD
><DT
><TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>connlimit</I
></TT
></DT
><DD
><P
>        How many concurrent connections can be made
        to this database.  -1 (the default) means no limit.
       </P
></DD
></DL
></DIV
><P
>   Optional parameters can be written in any order, not only the order
   illustrated above.
  </P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="REFSECT1"
><A
NAME="AEN64870"
></A
><H2
>Notes</H2
><P
>    <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>CREATE DATABASE</TT
> cannot be executed inside a transaction
    block.
   </P
><P
>    Errors along the line of <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"could not initialize database directory"</SPAN
>
    are most likely related to insufficient permissions on the data
    directory, a full disk, or other file system problems.
   </P
><P
>    Use <A
HREF="sql-dropdatabase.html"
>DROP DATABASE</A
> to remove a database.
   </P
><P
>    The program <A
HREF="app-createdb.html"
><SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>createdb</SPAN
></A
> is a
    wrapper program around this command, provided for convenience.
   </P
><P
>   Although it is possible to copy a database other than <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>template1</TT
>
   by specifying its name as the template, this is not (yet) intended as
   a general-purpose <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"<TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>COPY DATABASE</TT
>"</SPAN
> facility.
   The principal limitation is that no other sessions can be connected to
   the template database while it is being copied.  <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>CREATE
   DATABASE</TT
> will fail if any other connection exists when it starts;
   otherwise, new connections to the template database are locked out
   until <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>CREATE DATABASE</TT
> completes.
   See <A
HREF="manage-ag-templatedbs.html"
>Section 21.3</A
> for more information.
  </P
><P
>   The character set encoding specified for the new database must be
   compatible with the chosen locale settings (<TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>LC_COLLATE</TT
> and
   <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>LC_CTYPE</TT
>).  If the locale is <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>C</TT
> (or equivalently
   <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>POSIX</TT
>), then all encodings are allowed, but for other
   locale settings there is only one encoding that will work properly.
   (On Windows, however, UTF-8 encoding can be used with any locale.)
   <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>CREATE DATABASE</TT
> will allow superusers to specify
   <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>SQL_ASCII</TT
> encoding regardless of the locale settings,
   but this choice is deprecated and may result in misbehavior of
   character-string functions if data that is not encoding-compatible
   with the locale is stored in the database.
  </P
><P
>   The encoding and locale settings must match those of the template database,
   except when <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>template0</TT
> is used as template.  This is because
   other databases might contain data that does not match the specified
   encoding, or might contain indexes whose sort ordering is affected by
   <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>LC_COLLATE</TT
> and <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>LC_CTYPE</TT
>.  Copying such data would
   result in a database that is corrupt according to the new settings.
   <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>template0</TT
>, however, is known to not contain any data or
   indexes that would be affected.
  </P
><P
>   The <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>CONNECTION LIMIT</TT
> option is only enforced approximately;
   if two new sessions start at about the same time when just one
   connection <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"slot"</SPAN
> remains for the database, it is possible that
   both will fail.  Also, the limit is not enforced against superusers.
  </P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="REFSECT1"
><A
NAME="AEN64902"
></A
><H2
>Examples</H2
><P
>   To create a new database:

</P><PRE
CLASS="PROGRAMLISTING"
>CREATE DATABASE lusiadas;</PRE
><P>
  </P
><P
>   To create a database <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>sales</TT
> owned by user <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>salesapp</TT
>
   with a default tablespace of <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>salesspace</TT
>:

</P><PRE
CLASS="PROGRAMLISTING"
>CREATE DATABASE sales OWNER salesapp TABLESPACE salesspace;</PRE
><P>
  </P
><P
>   To create a database <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>music</TT
> which supports the ISO-8859-1
   character set:

</P><PRE
CLASS="PROGRAMLISTING"
>CREATE DATABASE music ENCODING 'LATIN1' TEMPLATE template0;</PRE
><P>

   In this example, the <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>TEMPLATE template0</TT
> clause would only
   be required if <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>template1</TT
>'s encoding is not ISO-8859-1.
   Note that changing encoding might require selecting new
   <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>LC_COLLATE</TT
> and <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>LC_CTYPE</TT
> settings as well.
  </P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="REFSECT1"
><A
NAME="AEN64918"
></A
><H2
>Compatibility</H2
><P
>   There is no <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>CREATE DATABASE</TT
> statement in the SQL
   standard.  Databases are equivalent to catalogs, whose creation is
   implementation-defined.
  </P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="REFSECT1"
><A
NAME="AEN64922"
></A
><H2
>See Also</H2
><A
HREF="sql-alterdatabase.html"
>ALTER DATABASE</A
>, <A
HREF="sql-dropdatabase.html"
>DROP DATABASE</A
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